Love and Flowers

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

I've been thinking of making a blog for just my one-shots and short stories for a while now and today I finally got the ambition to do so! As of right now I have one story posted... I will be posting some others as the weeks go by and I get them proof-read. Obviously this is just a space for the extra things I write which might not all be on hockey players... we shall see... click on the link, check it out and follow!! :o)

Friday, October 28, 2011

And thus comes the end to another story!!! From all your comments, it seems that you have enjoyed it!! I can't thank you enough for your comments and following, it really does mean a lot to a writer when you get feedback. (Which is why I make sure I thank you every time!)

These are better than any flower picture...

Epilogue – The following Summer…

“Daddy,” Sofia called out as she
skated over to the boards where Evan and I were sitting watching her practice.

“Yeah,
Grasshopper?” “Yeah, Sof?” Evan and I both asked in unison, laughing about it.

“That boy over
there told me that I had to kiss him after practice,” she said, pursing her
lips like she just ate a sour lemon.

I felt Evan sit
up a little straighter to listen to what his daughter had to say.“What did you say?” I asked her.

“I didn’t say
anything,” she said with a wicked smile and sparkling green eyes.

“Oh?”

“Yeah, I just
punched him instead.He has a bloody
nose now,” she announced proudly as she looked over her shoulder towards the
bench.Both Evan and I followed her eyes
back to the little boy sitting on the bench holding a bloody paper towel to his
nose.

“Who told you
that was okay to do?!” Evan freaked in a loud whisper.

I just looked
the other way, pretending to not hear a word of what Sofia was going to say next.

“Daddy Loops told
me that is how you settle things out on the ice…”

I felt Evan turn
towards me, so me being the polite guy I turned to face him with a sheepish
smile on my face.“Hey Evan!” I said
with a shit eating grin, trying not to bust up laughing.

“Well Daddy Loops
should have told you that fighting is what boys do, not girls,” Evan said with
a sparkle in his eye as he scolded me.“Are you in trouble with the coach now?” he asked, turning back to Sofia.

“I have to sit
on the bench for the rest of practice and say sorry to Luke after I talked to
you guys,” she said, not seeming a bit sorry for what she did.

“Okay, well go
back over and say sorry and we will talk about this after practice,” Evan said
as sternly as possible.He had really
taken to the father role easily and Sofia
loved him for it.Of course when
something needed to be addressed, I addressed it but all in all I was fairly
lax with her.It was an adjustment for
the four of us that was filled with temper tantrums, tears, laughter and a lot
of love.By the time the baseball season
rolled back around, Sofia
was on terms with Evan being her real father and was involved with his family
as much as possible.Not that it is hard to love the curly,
blonde haired beauty.During the
summer Sofia traveled with Evan’s family to TampaBay
a couple times when he had long home-stands.And like tonight, of course when he played in the area she was by his
side.There was a slight media back-lash
but nothing we weren’t prepared for.

Nana passed away
in her sleep after Christmas, unexpectedly.Obviously we were all heartbroken, but Sofia kept us smiling every time we talked of
her.In February Avery and Sofia moved
into my house in Newport.

Some people
could say that the family arrangement we had was like a Jerry Springer show,
but we saw it as an extra happy family.Evan and I got along like brothers and Avery often got annoyed when we
would gang up on her.Luckily the only
time we only spent joint time together was during Sofia’s hockey and baseball practices and
games, events that Avery wasn’t always available for because her flower
business had seemed to bloom, pun intended, over night.

Evan was still
glaring at me when I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket.I just winked and answered the phone, “Heylo
beautiful.”

“What did you do
wrong?” Avery chirped into the phone.

“How do you know
I did something wrong?”

“You don’t
answer the phone like that unless you did something wrong,” she said, smiling
into the phone.

Evan was
chuckling besides me, obviously hearing the phone conversation.I punched him in the arm and said, “Don’t
worry, I’m sure Evan will tattle on me later.Until then, what’s up?You have
all the flowers done for the wedding?”

“Yes,
finally.Ugh, I’m so exhausted.It’s tough doing the flowers along with
getting everything together for you and Sofia.”

“Did you get
yourself a dress?” I asked, knowing that she had been having trouble finding
something for her swelling belly.She
was already 6 months along and complaining about how fat she was.

I heard her sigh
into the phone, “Yeah, Krissy helped me pick out this baby-doll type dress;
either way I’m going to look like a balloon.”

“Yeah, a big
blimp,” I chirped sarcastically into the phone as Evan raised an eyebrow at me,
reminding me that I might be talking my way into a death sentence for when I
arrived back home.

“I knew it!” she
cried into the phone.

“Avery, you are
too much.You look beautiful pregnant,
so please spare me the drama.I love you
and I will be home after Sofia’s
practice to rub your feet.”

“Okay,” she
said, hormonally happy once more.“Love
you bye!”

“Love you bye,
baby,” I said into the phone, thinking about how truly beautiful she was
pregnant.The night she told me she was
pregnant she was a complete wreck, going on about how once again she was
pregnant and not married.I told her we
could go to Vegas that night if she thought it was so important.I didn’t care either way.Instead of Vegas we settled on the Justice of
the Peace in Newport Beach.Being that it was California, we were able to have a tiny
wedding on the beach behind our house in the middle of February.Avery said that she had spent too much time
over the years helping plan for other people’s big weddings that she was happy
just having a tiny wedding.I didn’t care;
I just wanted to be able to call her my wife.My mom was a little miffed when I invited her down for the weekend and
told her to bring along a wedding gift.My parents had only met Avery and Sofia once, which was when we played
in Edmonton and
I flew them up for the game.Of course
my family instantly fell in love with my two women, but my mom was surprised
because she knew my track record with relationships and how I had a habit of
jumping in too quickly.

“Are you sure
this is what you want to do?I mean, we
love Avery and Sofia, but I just want to make sure this is what you want,” Mom
said over the phone when I called to ask for my Grandmom’s diamond ring that I
was to inherit.

“Mom, I found my
soul mate.She loves me for me and I
love her for how she makes me feel, which is the happiest man on the planet
when she’s near me.”

“Well then you
need to marry her,” my mom said as I heard her begin to cry happy tears into
the phone.I of course just rolled my
eyes because I had enough of crying women the last couple weeks with my
pregnant, soon to be wife and Sofia being upset about Evan leaving for Tampa.

--

Back to hockey practice…

I looked over at
Evan who was laughing to himself about the conversation that just happened with
Avery.

“God bless you
when she is 8 or 9 months pregnant…” Evan snorted.

“So are you
saying you are glad you missed this part?” I asked, eying him.

“Yup,”
he said with a smile that told me he probably wished he hadn’t missed it for
the world.

“You are in so
much trouble when she gets older,” Krissy smiled as Sofia jumped down from the make-up chair all
dolled up in her flower girl dress.She
really did look like a princess with her wild hair all pinned back and a little
make-up bringing out her cute little cheeks and lips.

“Nah, according
to Evan, Joffrey already taught her how to fend for herself,” I said with a
smile, laughing inside at the story of her punching a kid at the hockey rink
for asking her to kiss him.

“Of course he
was…” I rolled my eyes before finishing up my own make-up.

Bobby and
Krissy’s wedding was a fairy-tale and I was happy to be the one to help make it
that.The flowers were beautiful and set
the tone for the whole celebration.I
already had appointments scheduled from two people who talked to me during the
cocktail hour that followed the wedding ceremony.

“Why hello, Mrs.
Lupul,” Joffrey growled in my ear as he came up behind me, wrapping his arms
around my swollen belly.

“Mr. Lupul,” I
cooed back as I leaned back and kissed him.

“I think it’s
time for a dance together,” he said as he twirled me around, moving us out onto
the dance floor.He pulled me into him
and I was happy that I still wasn’t big enough to not be able to rest my head
on his chest.“You look stunning,” he
breathed into my hair, causing me to shiver.

“You look pretty
sexy yourself in that tux,” I quipped back.“But I’m sure the tux will look a lot better crumpled on the floor next
to our bed when we get home tonight…”

“I like your
thinking, horny pregnant woman,” he laughed back.

We were swaying
together, getting lost in the music until we were interrupted by a little tug
on the hem of my dress.“Can I dance
with you?” Sofia
asked as she looked up between the two of us.

“Of course!”
Joff exclaimed as he scooped her up into his arm and I wrapped my arm around
the back of her.

“I love my
family,” Sofia
sighed as she laid her head on Joffrey’s shoulder.

Joffrey and I
just looked at each other and smiled at her comment, agreeing 100% with the
little girl’s observation.